I return to the theme of the Algarve city-region and its implementation on the ground, not only following the publication of framework law no. DL nº 50/2018 of 16 November on specific competences in the field of projects financed by European funds and investment capture programs, but, above all, due to three force majeure reasons.
First, a serious economic and social crisis following the pandemic and, as is well proven, the urgent need to diversify the regional economic base.
Second, the dire need to effectively program and efficiently manage European funds for the next decade.
Thirdly, the singular circumstance of having in the Algarve a complete coincidence between Nuts III, Nuts II, District, Region, Association of Municipalities constitutes an excellent opportunity to form a mission structure, an actor-network, a dedicated administration for the next decade.
For these reasons, I am convinced that the “Algarve city-region” is a conceptual and practical promise full of the future and that the partnership formed by AMAL/CCDR/UALG/NERA is the most suitable mission structure to manage the next cycle major transitions – climate, energy, sociodemographic, economic, digital – until 2030.
The projection of the next future
Following the devastating effects of the covid 19 pandemic, the region is imprisoned by its main sector of activity and, at the same time, by a deficient supply of public services, with health services at its head. Now that decentralization and the transfer of competences to various levels of administration (regional, inter-municipal and municipal) are discussed, it will be important to know at which levels of government and administration we will place the provision of fundamental common services, for example:
– Public transport and its interoperability in light of smooth mobility,
– Combating climate change and reducing our various footprints,
– Local food supply, community agriculture and institutional foods,
– The provision of medical care, outpatient care and home support services,
– The offer of agro-environmental and biophysical services and cultural services for leisure and recreation,
– The offer of public safety and protection services to the most vulnerable groups,
– The provision of public administrative services, postal and banking services,
– The provision of education and vocational training services for the digital transition,
– Offering incentives for new regionally based value chains.
The inter-municipal communities (CIM), already established and in operation, I believe that they deserve an opportunity to establish themselves as reference territories, even if, in some cases, we have doubts about their greater or lesser relevance.
When I refer to inter-municipal communities, I am thinking, in particular, of the art of composition of networked territories and, in this composition, the role of the virtuous quadrature – CIM, CCDR, UALG, NERA – in a mission structure to manage the next regional operational program until 2030.
We live in the knowledge society. Our problems are, to a large extent, due to knowledge deficits. Let's see what goes on around us.
In recent years, they have been created in many regions of the country, with the support of European and national funds, what we could call the “embryo of intelligent communities”: science and technology parks, research and development centers, technology centers, centers of businesses, company nests, startup incubators and accelerators, coworking spaces, a network of smart cities, a network of living labs, a national network of local development associations, a national rural network, venture capital societies, a Start network up Portugal, an association of business angels, technological and creative hubs, in addition to many business associations of highly variable geometry.
Let us think, for a moment, of the immense diffuse and dispersive effects, of dubious sustainability, originating in all these presumed intelligent communities, let us think of their weak agglomerative and cohesive impact on low-density territories and we are immediately left with a bitterness of mouth with regard to its effectiveness, efficiency and effectiveness. With a few exceptions, of course.
And why is this happening? Precisely for lacking an actor-network or a territorial curatorship that takes care of knowing and practicing that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. There is no territorial cohesion and smartification of the CIMs that resist these diffuse and dispersive effects.
Many of the external effects of these entities are not monitored and, sooner or later, they end up getting lost in the dryness and fragility of the fragile municipal and inter-municipal business fabric.
The city-region methodology
The city-region is a new programming and planning tool and a more innovative way of looking at the territory's geo-economy. In the XNUMXst century, after the material infrastructure of their municipalities, it is now up to the municipalities to accommodate the expectations and aspirations of their citizens, from intangible assets to related assets.
The cooperation between towns and cities is a perfectly accessible resource and a valuable instrument to introduce a new pattern of city-country relationships, if you like, a new architecture for visitation and tourism in rural areas, but also a way of access privileged for the new architecture of the senior society.
Furthermore, ecology and economy, art and culture, open the door to countless immaterial and intangible factors that strongly contribute to recreate the value chains that exist today. It is a great opportunity for the poorest regions in material resources. Let's see, then, the practical methodology of the region-city (RC):
1) The partners choose the RC's mission structure: this mission structure is responsible for promoting the city-region and drafting the founding convention that institutes the RC and defines its fundamental missions; the General Council of the city-region is responsible for approving the regional convention;
2) The general lines of the green plan (ecological transition) of the RC: the mission structure elaborates the general lines of the green plan of the city-region, which the General Council of the RC will approve, this time in the particular context of the recovery program and the European ecological pact;
3) The technological and digital infrastructure (digital transition) of the RC: within the framework of the European and national digital agenda, the mission structure prepares the general conditions that will guide the digital coverage of the RC and, in particular, the smartification of the territory of the region-city, which the General Council of the RC will approve,
4) The ecological and energy matrix (energy transition) of the RC: within the framework of the green plan, the mission structure establishes the general guidelines in terms of the energy matrix, water supply network and provision of ecosystem services, which the General Council of the RC will approve,
5) The list of common goods and services of the RC: the mission structure proposes a list of the common goods and services, fixed and ambulatory, and the general conditions for their provision by the region-city, which the General Council of the RC will approve,
6) The territorial distinctive signs (identity and symbolic assets) of the RC: the mission structure proposes a list of territorial distinctive signs, the map of its natural and cultural heritage, whose narrative structure will become the main element of visitation in the new region -city, which the General Council will approve,
7) The reconfiguration of the local productive system (SPL): the mission structure proposes a production base better articulated between the ecological infrastructure, the local food system (local soil bank), the local agroforestry system, the heritage subsystem and provision ecosystem services, as key elements of mobilization for the city-region development program that the General Council will approve,
8) The design of the circular economy of the city-region: the mission structure proposes a new design for the communicating vessel system of the city-region, its metabolism and 4R policy – reduction, recycling, repair and reuse – with a view to reducing all its footprints and increase its strategic autonomy that the General Council will approve;
9) The matrix of smart communities and their collaborative platforms: the mission structure proposes the design of the "platform city-region" and the level of network-intensity that the different smart communities and respective collaborative platforms (of which I highlight the youth platforms entrepreneurs as the fundamental operating subsystem of the region-city) must establish and maintain among themselves, which the General Council will approve,
10) The communication and marketing strategy of the city-region: the mission structure prepares the new narrative structure (the brand image) of the city-region, its political-cultural iconography and choreography, as well as its policy of external relations and respective “ambassadors”, which the General Council will approve.
Final Notes
The city-region is a new programming and operational planning instrument and a more innovative way of looking at the territory's geoeconomics. The preparation of the region's next regional program for 2030 is a unique and exceptional moment.
We cannot allow the region to be imprisoned by a single sector of activity or by the next pandemic. The region has at least four clusters or value chains that could constitute a promising agglomeration economy in the near future: the tourism economy, the agro-industrial and food economy, the blue economy and the cultural and creative industries economy.
Let's not simplify, however. Given the severity of climate change, the scarcity of water resources, the aging of the population, the regional asymmetries of digital coverage and the contradictions of "total tourism", the region will be forced to have as many mitigation and remediation measures as recovery and territorial development.
But let us have no illusions. If the technological revolution opens up an immense field of possibilities and opportunities, it is prudent that the Algarve city-region promote two other “small revolutions”: first, alongside an economy of global goods and services, it is necessary to recreate an economy of resources and “relocated” products, a true local production system with many interregional relationships; secondly, alongside an economy of standardized and contracting employment, it is necessary to recreate a tailor-made labor economy, in a labor market where the fractioning of the labor market, pluriactivity and multi-income become a fully recognized social norm. .
There is a lot of work to be done in these two areas, in the region's digital ecosystem, in human and social capital literacy, and in the technological and digital transformation of the region's business universe. A mission structure at this point can fulfill this territorial curation role well.
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